Apple Updates MacBook Air, Mac Mini for New Lion Operating System

By

Ian Sherr

July 21, 2011

SAN FRANCISCO—
Apple
Inc.
unveiled updates Wednesday to its product lines, including new laptops, desktops, displays and a highly anticipated update for its computer operating system called "OS X Lion."

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Many of the updates, which were announced a day after the Cupertino, Calif.-based company's blowout quarterly earnings release, are incremental to the company's overall product line, increasing speeds, memory and adding new capabilities to its computers and software.

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For example, the company's MacBook Air laptop and Mac mini desktop both use
Intel
Corp.'s
latest microprocessors for increased performance. Apple also added "Thunderbolt" data connections to the computers. The technology, which was introduced earlier this year by both Apple and Intel, is pitched as a faster and more capable alternative to more mainstream data connections such as USB.

Lion, as well, offers new capabilities and refinements for Apple's computer operating system, while incorporating features from the company's popular iOS software that powers iPhones and iPad tablets. Lion is also the first operating system Apple has released on the Mac App Store, the company's online marketplace for computer software.

"People are already downloading like crazy," Apple's marketing head,
Phil Schiller
said in an interview. He added that the software takes about as long to download as a high-definition movie.

Apple's new products come at a time of surging sales and profitability for the company. On Tuesday, Apple said its quarterly earnings more than doubled from the same time last year as consumers continued to snap up iPhones and iPads. The results also fueled a spike in Apple's shares, which hit an all-time high of $396.27 during early morning trading. Shares were trading 3% higher at $388 in the early afternoon on the Nasdaq Stock Market. The stock has gained 50% over the past year.

Apple's latest products attempt to harness a lot of the features that make the company's mobile devices popular, such as similar looking software, touch gestures, and thin designs. That strategy appears to be working: Mr. Schiller said the MacBook Air, which the company pitches as a cross between a standard laptop and a tablet computer, has become the most popular consumer computer the company offers.

Additionally, the Mac App Store has become popular in the same way as its application marketplace for the iPhone and iPad. "The Mac App Store is the number one channel in the world for PC software," Schiller said, adding that it gives Apple a direct sales channel to customers in 123 countries.

Apple also announced that it will begin shipping a revamped monitor within the next two months, featuring Thunderbolt data connections that will allow two displays to be connected together.

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